A proposal to support a ban on ritual circumcision and label it child abuse is splitting the leadership of a left-wing party in Norway that supports outreach to Muslim immigrants.

Socialist Left party secretary Kari Elisabeth Kaski was to push for language supporting the ban in the party’s official platform during a general assembly meeting this weekend.

The proposal would endorse 15 years as the minimum age for non-medical circumcision of boys, pending their consent. Jews circumcise boys at 8 days old. The Muslim variant typically occurs later in life but before the age of 13.

Party leaders Audun Lysbakken and Snorre Valen oppose the plan.

“For Norwegian Jews, such a ban would be difficult to deal with,” Lysbakken said. “From the minority’s perspective, this proposal therefore is deeply troubling and I hope those promoting it will reconsider.”

Many European secularists regard circumcision on minors, which is performed by Muslims and Jews, as a cruel violation of children’s rights. A similar debate is occurring across Europe and in the continent’s north about the issue of ritual slaughter of animals, which devout Jews and Muslims require be performed on conscious animals.

In an interview published on Friday by the NTB news agency, Ervin Kohn, the leader of the Jewish Community of Norway, the country’s EJC affiliate, offered criticism that is rarely expressed in Norway against politicians from progressive parties like the Socialist Left.

“Those who seek a ban operate with intolerance and ethnocentrism of the worst kind,” he said. “They put themselves on a pedestal and maintain the notion that two billion of the world’s population are wrong.”

In addition to left-wing initiatives to ban non-medical circumcision of boys and ritual slaughter, Europe and northern Europe especially have seen similar efforts by centre-right and far-right populists. Proponents often appeal to children’s rights and animal welfare, although some appear to be specifically targeting Muslim or Jews.

Norway on Friday condemned the Palestinian Authority’s naming of a woman’s centre in the West Bank after a female terrorist who took part in the 1978 Coastal Road massacre that killed 37 people. Oslo also asked the PA to repay money it provided for the centre.

Tamar and Mohammed top Israel's baby name listThe most popular baby names in Israel over the past year were Tamar for girls and Mohammad for boys, the two favourites remaining at the top of their lists for the third consecutive year, according to figures released on Sunday by the Interior Ministry.

On Wednesday, September 20, 2017

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